kim jong un, who appears to be following in his father's foot accepts even dodged calls on this launch. chris lawrence is following this at the pentagon. chris, if you can tell us a little bit about the launch. it might seem surprising, but was it really surprising given the history we have with these leaders? >> reporter: it was only a surprise, ashley, that it happened last night. they knew this was going to take place, but when north korea asked to extend the launch window to the end of the year, most thought it would come next week at the earliest. i just spoke with a u.s. official who confirms that the object that north korea launched is still in orbit right now, and they're doing their final calculations to determine whether or not it was, indeed, a satellite as north korea claimed. but bottom line, their rocket did go through all three stages, which is a significant jump in technology for them. >> so does this, chris, tell us much about how close north korea is from being able to launch long-range missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads? >> great question. the official i